Anna draws

Anna didn't ask to watch television this morning. Usually, we have Dora, Diego and Maggie & the Ferocious Beast before school. But this morning, she began by brining in the magna-doodle and showing Lewis what she'd been drawing: faces. He offered her paper, keen to have some of this new work to post on his office door.

This is a real advance for Anna, who has been scribbling for years joyfully, tracing figures and copying them occasionally and with much prompting, and otherwise not being especially interested in forming shapes or coloring inside the lines. So today we were all smiles as she drew circle after wobbly circle and added eyes (usually two) and a mouth and nose. Eventually she added legs--just like Thomas used to when he first learned to draw people: a big circle with eyes, nose and mouth, and four appendages sticking directly out of the circle, for arms and legs.

The best thing about it was how pleased Anna was with herself. She's been watching Thomas draw--quite possibly his favorite indoor activity--everything from shapes to castles to houses with 'for sale' signs, and to write letters and numbers with increasing accuracy (and decreasing size). Now she can participate in that in a whole new way.

And Iain has decided he wants to join in the fun: today it was ovals. Thankfully on the paper, this time.